The Star Wars prequels

[COR 2000]

I am so sick and tired of everyone on the escapist acting as though The Star Wars prequels are the worst films in the history of mankind, and acting as though Force Unleashed is the worst game of all time. Especially now with Yahtzee's review, people are taking it a step further and saying "George Lucas is to blame for everything". This is why I'm going to take a serious discussion about both the Movies and SW:TFU. I'm not trying to turn this into a rant, but just take a serious look at the movies, first by examining the Review scores they got. (All scores courtesy of metacritic.)

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace: Review score: 52/100: Okay, I'm aware, a 52 is not exactly the best grade a movie can get, but considering many recent movies like 300 and Mama Mia!(Both 51/100), Hancock(47/100), and Eagle Eye(43/100) have gotten lower scores, Episode one could most likely be forgiven. Hopefully.
Episode II: Attack of the Clones: Review score: 53/100: The same, only this one acquired a perfect score from the Chicago Tribune Saying: "Attack of the Clones celebrates a certain youthful spirit in both moviemaking and movie watching; because it's as much phenomenon as movie, audiences will either ride with or reject it. I was happy to take the ride."
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: Review score: 68/100: It boggles me why people crucify this one. This did way better, got an average rating of a B, and Was called by the Baltimore Sun "A pop masterpiece" and By the Seattle Post-intelligencer "The movie grabs us from its heart-pounding opening sequence and pulls us inexorably along its trajectory with the grip of the last gruesome act of a Greek tragedy. Its fascination is not what happens but HOW it happens. ".

And as for Force unleashed, It may not have received the perfect score(73/100), But it is far, far away from being the worst game ever, especially when compared to "Alone in the Dark".

Okay, I think I have done too much ranting here, so I'll leave it as is. Like I said though, I only posted this because of the reaction from the Escapist shredding the newest movies to bits.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

I liked the prequels.....I didn't get to see the originals in theatres, for one because I didn't exist yet, so the prequels will always hold a special place for me.

 

[COR 2000]

I liked the prequels.....I didn't get to see the originals in theatres, for one because I didn't exist yet, so the prequels will always hold a special place for me.

Same here. You have earned my respect.

 

[bluerahjah]

I'm not going to blame George Lucas for the end of the world, nor am I going to completely bash the prequels. I will however say that Star Wars : The Force Unleashed, for all it's highly touted gameplay advances, and amazing story, really did not blow me away. I am more or less of the opinion that George Lucas had his day in the sun with the original trilogy, and that this is yet another money making opportunity that he has taken to a) advance his story, albeit at the expense of those that gave him his position as King Nerd and b) to keep the demand for all things Star Wars at a high point. Let's face it, how many times has the original trilogy been put out? Seriously, I love count after the second time it was put on DVD in the new Special-Special Edition with even more specialer things to it.

 

[COR 2000]

COR, when Mobius gets back, he'll likely side with you.

Now I am happy.

EDIT: BlueRahjah, at least you're not like all the other idiots flaming it for everything. And nice "King Nerd" remark, that I agree with.

 

[Galletea]

the phantom menace was the first time I'd been to the cinema. However the acting is still appaling, th script is laughable and the characters were irritating. Same goes for the other 2 really. Though I found them entertaining at the pictures, watching them again showed the flawed script and despite the best efforts of the cast, the films were not the masterpieces they could have been. And Hayden Christiansen keeps showing us he has all the charisma of wet cardboard.

 

[Combined]

I /Liked/ The prequels. And I saw all the originals before them. I don't know why people always criticize Episode 1-3 so very harshly. Okay, maybe they don't have the same actors, different backgrounds and effects, a not that good script in them and etc., but I just don't see them as the worst ever.

That and General Grievous rules.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

Especially now with Yahtzee's review, people are taking it a step further and saying "George Lucas is to blame for everything".

It's a quirk of fate Yahtzee should fail to recall the idiotic hell that was the dialogue, ending, or plot of the originals through a thick smearing of nostalgia.

Where the Star Wars prequels good? I didn't think so. But then I don't like the original Star Wars anymore.

Ultimately, like it or not, Jar Jar Binks more closely represents the soul of Star Wars then Boba Fett.

By the Seattle Post-intelligencer

Best name EVER

 

[TheThanatos]

Hey some of us think ALL of Star Wars sucks.
This giving me a reasonably unbiased view, I would say it's because there a let down from the original one's. People expected better from the Star Wars franchise, average is acceptable from a new comer in an industry, but when an industry veteran like Lucas makes average it taste like bitter ewok ashes in Star Wars fans mouth's, and possibly caused some of them to die inside.
You could say there over reacting, but when your let down by some one you love it hurts the most.
At least that's what I guess.

 

[Slycne]

I think what happens is that most people throw out a movie based on it simply being bad or good, but there really should be a third: enjoyable. There are bad movies that are enjoyable to watch( while I absolutely love Army of Darkness I think some people would class it as a bad movie). Just as their are good movies that are not enjoyable to watch( Requiem For a Dream for example).

That my personal take on the Prequels, while certainly not cinema gold and did at least enjoy going to see them.

 

[Easykill]

I'm going to throw my weight on the (bah, my attempt at a nerd version of emasculating failed horribly) perspective of "What's all this fuss over Star wars anyways?"

 

[COR 2000]

I /Liked/ The prequels. And I saw all the originals before them. I don't know why people always criticize Episode 1-3 so very harshly. Okay, maybe they don't have the same actors, different backgrounds and effects, a not that good script in them and etc., but I just don't see them as the worst ever.

That and General Grievous rules.

You too have earned my respect, especially for the last line.

 

[Galletea]

Hang on a second. Army of Darkness rules
And grevious was the redeeming feature for me in sith

 

[bluerahjah]

BlueRahjah, at least you're not like all the other idiots flaming it for everything. And nice "King Nerd" remark, that I agree with.

I have no qualms with George Lucas at all. The original trilogy was an amazing masterpiece that we'll likely not see the scope of ever again. Even the prequels had parts to it that still make me want to see them, i.e. Lucas making Jar-Jar the fall guy for the entire Empire, that cracks me up, at least he did something about making him a character in the first place, not many individuals would, on account of ego.

The thing that did get me to respect the prequels is the fact that the Original trilogy is all about Luke Skywalker, UNTIL the prequels came out, then the entire series shifts. Lucas is a masterful story teller, I just believe that his vision for the prequels was lost in translation, as the overall story is the same in any life : love, betrayal, redemption, it's the way Lucas captured it that makes nerds of us all.

Side note : At least it's not 3 movies of people walking.

 

[Kikosemmek]

I personally didn't like any Star Wars flick. I just never thought they were too captivating or well-done. The plots were generic as far as I was concerned, and I called most of the supposed twists they involved. This tends to turn me off. I did like the charm and genuinity that the universe of Star Wars had, though, so it's not like the whole franchise is shit to me.

As far as reviews go: I don't give a shit. Reviews contradict my taste in movies often enough that I dismiss them for most of the time. People enjoy different things for different reasons, and so no number anyone will post will explain to me how good or bad the movie is, and nor is a subjective description of a critic.

I treat fads the same way I treat reviews: for some reason, everyone in my dorky clique has to love Star Wars. Not me. I don't even like Star Trek that much. Indiana Jones and James Bond can go fuck themselves because I'll probably be tortured to death before admitting I actually enjoyed any of the movies in these franchises. Does it mean that they're bad? No. It's that I think they're bad, and so as far as I'm concerned, for all intents and purposes, they're bad movies.

In light of this, my advice to you would be to chill and give all those sheep a break. Just because lots of people say what Yahtzee says or sing in unison doesn't mean the song has to be good, and it also doesn't mean that everyone else will be singing. This is the internet, and even in these intellectually conceited forums you're bound to find what you can find everywhere else.

If you want to watch a good movie, by the way, I recommend There Will Be Blood, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Reservoir Dogs.

 

[Galletea]

Everyone should watch 'there will be blood' That movie is bloody brilliant.

 

[H.R.Shovenstuff]

If you take the prequels out of context, I suppose the ones I have seen are ok. I mean the pod race in phantom menace was kick-ass, to use an American colloquialism. But the overriding factor in menace which killed the movie for me was jar-jar binks. Even as my fingers hit the keys to spell out that word, I threw up a little in my mouth.

-Didn't see Attack of the Clones-

Revenge of the sith was adequate at best, which isn't to say it was bad, with the main downside being the reasonably bad acting of Hayden Christensen.

But I think in context with the old films, they sort of pale in comparison.

 

[COR 2000]

What, you couldn't have checked out the other eight hundred Star Wars threads?

Okay, I only did this one to show the majority the movies' scores and that they were, how should I put it, A Galaxy far, far away from being the worst movies of all time.

P.S.: Yes, I'm aware that I'm going to hell for the Galaxy line.

 

[GothmogII]

Menh...I'm too bogged down with nostalgia. There are certain parts of the prequels I -do- like, the underwater scenes in the Phantom Menance, the fights in Attack of the Clones, actually I thought Revenge of the Sith was the weakest personally. Still, I often wonder if I were to go back and actually watch the original trilogy, if I'd still like it, the answer is I don't know, because, I mostly like never will watch any of the films again. Not for any reason, but, life's too short to be watching movies more than once or twice every few years.

 

[Lt. Sera]

I could care less how everyone else thinks about the prequels, to me they were enjoyable movies and that's exactly what i wanted them to be, entertaining. They were no masterpieces, but they weren't exactly the 'Paris Hilton' quality of movies either.